We know of
nothing good in any system which is not favored by some portion of the
Bible. We know of nothing evil which is not condemned by other portions.
All that is best and noblest and grandest in man's nature is there
embodied. We know of no good or generous feeling which is not there
expressed. We cannot imagine it possible for a book to be more earnest
in its exhortations to the performance of duty, or to the culture of
virtue. There is no book on earth that we should be more reluctant to
part with than the Bible. Its destruction would be a fearful loss to
mankind. It is a mine containing treasures of infinite value. The wisest
may learn more wisdom from its teachings, and the best be raised to
higher virtue by its influence. It has done much good; it is doing good
still; it is calculated to do still greater good in days to come. Old as
it is, it is a wiser book than the books of religion that are written
in the present day. It is wiser than the preachers; wiser than the great
divines. It is infinitely superior to the Bibles that have been made in
later times, such as the Bible of the Shakers, the Bible of Reason, and
the Book of Mormon.
"It is superior to the Koran, though the authors of the Koran, like
later makers of Bibles, had the older Bible to help them.
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